Community Operations – projects
Our Community Operations team takes care of the day‑to‑day services and facilities that keep South Wairarapa moving and connected. They look after our community buildings, halls, reserves and public spaces, senior housing, cemeteries, and transfer stations, and carry out regular inspections, maintenance and renewals to keep everything safe and working well.
While much of this work is carefully planned, the team also responds quickly to weather events, wear and tear and urgent issues as they arise. Together, their work protects key community assets and ensures ratepayer funding is invested where it makes the biggest difference. When putting in new or upgrading infrastructure, they try to reflect the unique identity of each town.
They work hard to put together a workplan for each financial year. Seasons, weather, contractor availability, team resource, and use of the asset/area are all considered in our planning (e.g. no new plantings in summer, and works wouldn’t be scheduled on a facility building during a big scheduled event/festival). Though they put a lot of effort into our planning, these are also areas which can cause unexpected delays to our work.
Our current Open Spaces contract is with Citycare, who do amazing work maintaining our parks, road reserves (not on state highways), gardens, sports fields, and facilities. They have their own work programmes for each season, but they will also pay special care to areas before and during big events, e.g. the Greytown Winter Festival, Martinborough Fair, or Featherston Booktown.
What we’ve completed this year
Here’s some of the work we’ve completed during the 2025/26 year:
Car Park resurfacing
This is a general project line added each year to maintain or upgrade public car parks around the district. In the last 12 months we’ve completed works on the Waihinga Centre, the Featherston Pool, and Greytown Playground.
Otauira Reserve
This was another big project in the 2025-26 financial year. Overtime, the camber of the land and the heavy machinery had caused deep potholes in the rest area driveway. Not only was this unsightly, but it could also damage vehicles. The driveway has been restored, and use as a truck stop for heavy machinery has been disallowed. Bollards were installed to reduce the wear and tear and vandalism to the site.
Playgrounds refurbishment
Each year, funds are allocated to maintaining or upgrading playgrounds in the district. This is based on our regular compliance checks and our asset management plan, which lets us know when equipment has reached its end of life, or its lifespan can be extended with maintenance. In the last financial year, significant upgrades to Featherston’s Joy Cowley Playground (Phase 1 & 2) and Lake Ferry Playground have taken place. Don’t they look great!
Greytown Wheels Park
The jewel in our 2025 project delivery crown was the construction of the Te Papa Ora o Mōroa. This has been an initiative in the community for circa 15 years, and we were pleased to be able to deliver this important resource for families in South Wairarapa, in partnership with Convic. SWDC paid for the skate park, and the community will be fundraising for subsequent stages to develop the site, which will include a basketball court, a playground, and a pump track.
Recreation Trail related infrastructure
This is regular maintenance and upgrades to the many recreational trails in our district. Trails tourism including cycling and walking is becoming an increasingly big draw for the Wairarapa, and council sit on several steering and project groups to connect trails and improve user experience around the Greater Wellington region.
ANZAC Hall access ramp upgrade
This was completed in February 2026, to make Anzac Hall more accessible, based on feedback from users. A beautiful new bench was also included in the upgrade, to reflect Featherston’s military history, built by local business, Norse Ironworks.
Featherston Memorial lighting dome
Lighting and power have been added to the Featherston Memorial dome, to facilitate civic events (such as Anzac Day). Blue Force Electrical supplied us with coloured lighting, which can be customised for certain events.
Riparian planting
This is another annual project involving planting natives near waterways which takes place around the district, based on need. The purpose is to restore water quality, reduce slips and erosion, and promote biodiversity. This year, planting at North Tora and around the campground has taken place to repair damage to the area and restore wetlands.
What’s coming up?
Here are some of the projects the team have planned to deliver over the next few months:
Martinborough Campground drainage solution (Apr – July 2026)
This work will identify and implement a solution to reduce flooding around Martinborough Campground and Considine Park. Works are scheduled to be completed by the end of July.
Greytown Town Centre upgrades (May – July 2026)
Our beloved Greytown Town Centre needs some scheduled maintenance, with repairs to fixtures to keep the building safe, sturdy, and accessible. Scheduled to be completed by the end of July.
Public building exterior painting (May – July 2026)
Our community buildings have a work programme for regular repainting, as part of our asset management. Not only does it keep our public buildings looking tidy, it also helps prolong the life of these structures. Featherston Library and Greytown Town Centre are due for their spruce this year. Scheduled to be completed by the end of July.
Featherston Stadium climbing wall (Apr – July 2026)
This is an exciting project working with a local climbing group to install indoor climbing equipment in the Underhill Stadium in Featherston. This is an example of a project where we work closely with a community group who have approached us based on community feedback and need. We’re not funding all of the equipment but are making some changes to the internal structure of the stadium to facilitate the installation of climbing facilities, which will be managed by the climbing group. Scheduled to be completed by the end of July.
Heights access for buildings (June 2026)
Not all of our projects are grand structures or new facilities, sometimes it’s about repairing, enhancing or making our current ones safer. This is a project to add safety points for contractors who work at heights on our facilities, for repairs or maintenance. Scheduled to be completed on buildings across the district by the end of June.
Carkeek Observatory (April – July 2026)
Did you know there is a heritage listed observatory in Featherston? Carkeek Observatory is an important part of South Wairarapa and Aotearoa New Zealand’s history. We’ve been working with Iwi, stakeholders, and descendants of Stephen Carkeek to get these remains heritage listed, and to build a structure to reduce further damage from the elements in the future. The structure has been designed with the help of architects and purpose built, and will be installed using local contractors. Though there are no immediate plans for tourism (as the structure is on a working farm), it has been designed it with future tourism in mind, and we are proud that this structure has relevance to the Dark Sky status for the area. Scheduled to be completed by the end of July.
Featherston toilet upgrades (May – July 2026)
Featherston public toilets are perhaps one of the most well used facilties in the region, and it is no secret they’re in dire need of a tidy. We’re planning to keep the external structure (designed to represent a Rail Coach) and refurbish the interior. Work is expected to begin in May and conclude by the end of July.
Swimming pool upgrades (Apr – July 2026)
Our three swimming pools are a beloved community asset, and we’ve been using the downtime after the swimming season to carry out some repairs at our sites. This includes replacing shade sails, resurfacing pools, and repairing leaks.
Car Park resurfacing
This is a general project line added each year to maintain or upgrade public car parks around the district. Next financial year, the plan is to upgrade the public car parking opposite Fresh Choice in Greytown (beside the Greytown Working Men’s club).